The present invention relates generally to time division switching systems, and more particularly to such a time division switching system capable of operating at high speed.
In a typical prior art time division switching system of time-space-time (TST) configuration, each of a plurality of inlet time switches is connected in an inlet highway between a multiplexer and a space switch and each of a plurality of outlet time switches is connected in an outlet highway between the space switch and a demultiplexer. Each of the time switches interchange time slots on each highway so that a desired pair of time slots on different inlet highways are switched to the same time slots. The space switch operates on a "time-divided basis" by having its crosspoints shared between the time slots of the inlet and outlet highways. The space switch responds to a control signal which is generated in response to a timing signal to cause switching to occur in phase with the arrival of the incoming time slots. For this reason, the timing at which the space switch operates is required to coincide with the timing at which the incoming time slots arrive at the space switch. If the operating speed of the system is very high, however, the length of inlet highways must be equal to each other. This requirement imposes severe limitations on the design of a high speed time division switching system.